County Roads to Facilitate West China Development

Xinhua, 3 November 2001

BEIJING, November 3 (Xinhua) -- China has to build roads in more than
280 counties in 15 western provinces and autonomous regions, with an
investment of 36 billion yuan (4.35 billion U.S. dollars), sources
with the Ministry of Communications said Saturday.

Priorities of the project is to ensure at least on asphalt road
linking the provincial capital to counties.

Communications Minister Huang Zhendong has said the road project will
help improve the traffic conditions in many poor western areas, and
build a better environment to attract capital inflow.

In the next ten years, a total of 350,000 kilometers of roads will be
built in western China, in addition to 12,600 kilometers of state
trunk highways and 15,000 kilometers of inter-province highways. All
villages in the west will be connected with roads by that time.

At present, western towns and villages without an access to road
account for 91 percent and 57 percent, respectively, of the country's
total. To solve the problem, the Chinese government has decided to put
70 percent of the total road construction investment into the western
region.

The government also encourages domestic and overseas investors to
participate in communications infrastructure construction in western
China.